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I can understand your issues with wanting 3-point seatbelts. I'm not sure about the 1999-2003 323, but the Mazda 3 from 2003/4-on has 3-point belts all around (at least in Oz) and the general safety engineering is a vast, vast leap over the BA.
If you have child seats the 3-point belts may help with mounting, and in the Mazda 3 the top tether mount is in a vastly better position. Having said that, in Oz some seats can mount with the 3-point belts only. However the width of the seats nowadays generally precludes putting 3-abreast in a car that isn't Humvee-wide. Well, generally at least a Prado/Landcruiser in Oz, although there are some slimmer car seat models that can fit say a Forester...sometimes.
I've even found child seats/booster seats that are so wide with the "wings" for head/side-impact protection that they can't even sit [i]by themselves[/i] in a Mazda 3 outboard position as they interfere with the door closing. You see, some cars/seats specify that you fit in the outboard positions first before the centre position nowadays. Mind you, the Oz standard for child seats is different to anywhere else.
Still the difference is unbelievable to when I was young- we brought my brother home in 1978 on a blistering 42C day in a wicker basket placed in the rear seat footwell of a Morris 1100 (or had we upgraded to the Volvo 144 by then? Can't remember).
[b]Patrick[/b]
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